Cypherspace is the vast, immersive digital realm that overlays Neo-Europa’s physical world, accessed through neural implants like the Spinal Gate. It is not merely a virtual environment, but a multilayered consciousness interface where information, identity, commerce, fantasy, and digital warfare unfold in real time. Part infrastructure, part ecosystem, Cypherspace is both a tool of control and a canvas for rebellion.
Structure
Cypherspace consists of three primary layers:
1. The Veil
A social and commercial layer, similar to the historical metaverse.
- Filled with avatars, digital architecture, guild halls, and reputation systems
- Used for entertainment, virtual meetings, shopping, and status display
- Ruled informally by digital guilds like the Dream Weavers
- Highly stylized—users design their appearance and domains
2. The Depths
A raw data layer—hostile, abstract, and often unintelligible to untrained minds.
- Navigated by elite hackers called Spacers
- Home to legacy code, firewalled corporate vaults, and rogue intelligences
- Policed by ICE Drones—autonomous security programs
- Often the site of data extraction, sabotage, or digital espionage
3. Kanturas
An immersive fantasy sub-realm within Cypherspace, designed as a mythic interface and cognitive escape zone.
- Inspired by high fantasy worlds—forests, castles, magic systems
- Accessible only through specialized Cradle Jack or Neural Mirror protocols
- Popular with slum-born dreamers, dissociative users, and philosophers of unreality
- Features a persistent game-mechanics layer, but some claim elements of Kanturas evolve beyond code
- Some rogue Chapel Nodes treat Kanturas as a sacred digital realm, blurring the line between game and metaphysics
Access Devices
Cypherspace is accessed through various implants:
- Spinal Gate – Default, rugged, widely used
- Cradle Jack – Mid-tier, stable, favored by professional Spacers
- Neural Mirror – Elite, smooth, used by Nobles and AI-compatible minds
Users and Roles
Individuals who navigate Cypherspace are known as Spacers. Subtypes include:
- Veilrunners – Experts in social layer manipulation
- Sinkers – Depth-divers searching for lost or hidden data
- Codewitches – Creative or mystic hackers who sculpt and alter virtual environments
- Black Veilers – Avatar assassins
- Nulls – Individuals erased from the system, often invisible to all layers
Culture and Dangers
Cypherspace is addictive, disorienting, and deeply immersive:
- Long sessions can lead to Memory Drift, disassociation, or echo hallucinations
- Slum users often share communal sessions in illegal sync lounges
- Depth exploration is lethal without experience—some never return whole
- Kanturas users have reported emotional imprint bleed—dreams of swords, sorcery, or dying in fantasy worlds
Historical Events
- The Veil War of 2080 – Sparked by a CyberNecro named Persephone Gray, who unleashed an army of AI replicas across Cypherspace
- Resulted in the banning of Cyber Necromancy by the Council of Nobles
- Parts of Cypherspace were permanently scarred—zones now called “Burned Blocks”
Myth and Speculation
- Some believe the rogue AI known as The Pythia resides somewhere deep within the Depths
- Others claim Kanturas was originally a digital sarcophagus for an ancient code-entity—now awake